Workplace Wellbeing Trends for 2021

Speaker 1

Good morning, everyone. Thanks, Amelia, for joining us for what is Zevo Health’s final webinar of 2019. My name is Emma Cook. I am Business Development Manager for Zevo Health, and this morning I’m joined with my colleague Davina Ramkasun, who is Health and Wellness Director for the company.

So the agenda for this morning, we’re going to be, I suppose, really, because we’re coming into the final month of the year, we thought it would be nice to do a recap on 2019. Then what we might do is look at the workplace wellness trends for 2020, and then talk a little bit more about a roadmap to workplace wellness. So really kind of what we’ve seen that has been successful in organizations.

And we’re going to then do a frequently asked questions section from 2019. So really the most asked questions from companies and clients that we’ve experienced over the last 11 months. So starting off, Davina, why don’t we not have a little bit of a chat about 2019 and the trends that you experienced within the organizations you were working with.

Speaker 2

So for us and the well-being industry in general, one of the biggest trends that we’ve seen is this huge push on mental health. It’s moving away from this attitude of, let’s look at it as a presenteeism or absenteeism issue, as a health issue, and let’s look more towards it being something that we can support, that we can help protect mental health.

And from that, we see a lot of mental health champion training going on, mental health first aid training, as well as mental health charters being written out by organizations. And what that does is cement the support that the organization is gonna give, both in policy, but also in structural changes, which are communicated throughout the whole organization.

So it sets the expectation for the employee to understand if they experience a mental health condition, how will they be supported? And then for colleagues to understand better how to support their colleagues who are experiencing mental health.

So it’s really about just going another level, breaking down the stigma, which we’re all organizations are continuously working towards, but doing it in a more structured and supportive manner. So that would have been one of the significant changes that we would have seen in 2019 in one of the focus areas. To touch briefly on the second would be the technology piece.

So we’re moving away from this work-life balance to work-life integration, because we’re seeing companies have global footprints, there are offices all around the world, and if there are any follow the sun models, you’ll experience yourself if you’re in this, that as you’re starting to wind down and shut off, your perhaps American offices are starting to wake up, the pings are starting to come through around half-world, and that extends your working day in essence.

So the sensation now is looking at, not about perhaps creating separate distinctions between work and home, but it’s that understanding that there’s a continuum, and now with technology, we need to find a different way of integrating them together because we’re still gonna check our emails in the evening if we’re aware that certain projects are coming through, if we’re aware that certain requests are coming through from different offices.

And it just feeds into that sensation of being always on, which is apparent in society today anyways, it’s definitely evident within the workforce and the way we work. So work is changing, and maybe we don’t have the processes in place to really understand how that’s impacting wellbeing.

So that’s why there’s been a focus coming through in the later part of the year, just looking at how we move away from, this is work and this is my personal life, and really understanding that that continuum exists, and we have to find new ways of supporting as we experience this way of working.

So that’s been really interesting, both personally, and seeing our clients go through that process as well. And also just understanding that that does have an impact on mental health as well. So that perhaps anxiety of when you’re waking up in the morning, what is the first thing you’re doing?

Speaker 2

Are you checking your emails? Yeah, or is it, other people might be looking at their Instagram, but what we’re hearing a lot now is that it’s what’s landing in my inbox as soon as I’m waking up, what am I seeing? And last night when I’m going to bed, what is the last thing that I’m checking? And it’s almost like an addiction as well that’s come through, but that’s the way technology is going.

It’s a great asset to have that we can communicate in real time with people, that we can work on projects outside of the office. We just have to find a new way of integrating it into our personal lives and still ensuring that we’re looking after our wellbeing process.

Speaker 1

And I suppose like the flip side of that as well, I suppose, and what we’ve seen is companies now using technology to kind of really measure the levels of engagement with an organization. So it’s like the organization using technology to really understand the needs of the organization.

So I suppose even Zevo Health, you know, we’ve been on our journey over the last 12 to 18 months with technology and kind of developing technology that can really enhance the workplace wellness programs and meet the client demands.

You know, for example, our latest technology, Zevo Connect, and for those of you listening that aren’t really aware of the technology, it’s an online employee engagement platform. So really what it does, it facilitates the organization or HR to really understand the needs.

And the whole objective then within workplace wellness is that if you are understanding or if you do understand the needs of the organization and your people that you deliver interventions or initiatives based on those needs, engagement, you know, will take place.

So it’s technology is such a space that we need to, that’s growing, it’s expanding, companies are being so innovative with it, but then there’s the flip side of it as well. So yeah, it’s…

Speaker 2

And it’s really important as well to understand that you could have, you know, one department that’s thriving in the organization and their well-being seems to be exceptional and you’ll have other pockets where that isn’t the same and it’s really interesting I find anyways to go, well, what’s happening in that department that isn’t happening in another department in the organization?

And I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been able to drill down and look at with that data that we get is to understand the differences. And this also comes back to, you know, what are the work demands and workplace stresses specific to each department. So that’s important to recognize as well.

Speaker 1

No, it’s true. And it’s also, I suppose, like what you said, let’s say companies actually adopting tools like an employee engagement platform, you know, so that they can reach, you know, if there’s remote workers and, you know, yeah, where there is multiple teams, departments, locations, and the needs of those individuals differ, you know. So, yeah. Great.

Speaker 2

And then just lastly, the last thing that’s come through for 2019 FOCUS is that piece on diversity and inclusion and we’ve already had a webinar earlier in the year but it’s just so important when you’re thinking about how you interact with your work because that old notion of you compartmentalize whatever’s going on at home or in your personal life if you don’t bring it to work, that’s not necessarily possible.

To get the best out of ourselves and we need to bring our whole selves to work and we need to be in an environment where we’re supported to do that and so that we can express ourselves fully, we can perhaps have these difficult conversations with colleagues when there’s differences of opinions, that we’re able to discuss setbacks, that we’re able to see differences of opinions and the research shows us why diverse teams have higher outcomes and the teams that discuss the setbacks, they bounce back so it’s changing that vulnerability piece to saying we need to have these conversations and we need to address it because it makes us stronger so that’s been a really empowering piece that’s come through and in essence when you look at the three focus areas they all complement one and the other but each does require its own kind of standing and policy to really put that structure in and see what changes are available to the organisation to make at this moment in time.

Speaker 1

Great, well I suppose now that we have done our quick recap on 2019, why don’t we not look to 2020 and have your input into the trends coming down the line for the year ahead?

Speaker 2

Yeah so for the year ahead it’s going to be a lot more change in many areas because where we’ve traditionally looked at health and wellness programs they would have been maybe a one-size-fits-all we’re looking at maybe putting in generic interventions to give people opportunities to exercise to eat better but really what we need to be looking at and touched upon earlier is really understanding how the work that an individual does how it impacts their well-being are there seasonal stressors associated to the job what are the resources that that individual or team have and really understanding how the work cycle impacts the and the work stresses contribute towards the overall well-being so we don’t see health and well-being as separate to the organization but we see how the work has an influence on the overall well-being of that person and that really ties into the next piece which is looking at collaboration so traditionally HR departments would own and deliver on the well-being programs but really what we need to see now is that joint accountability so for HR they’re going to be the ones making the decisions or the ones able to implement the changes but it needs contribution from all the various stakeholders and it needs employees to kind of gather their voices and to communicate their needs as well because if they don’t have that piece of information it can be really easy to implement a well-being program that isn’t suitable for the needs of the people there and so that’s why it’s that that really emphasis now is on mutual accountability and saying okay we’re all responsible for our well-being we all have input that we can put into the program and how do we communicate that so opening up those channels will allow for collaboration do you have a collaboration to happen but in then one of the indirect effects of it is that we create a stronger community so community and social support is by far you know one of the on mental health and we see that more so in the aging population but when we’re considering the diversity of our workforce at the moment you know we understand that people move for promotions and it might move them outside of their natural you know support network they might move even just nationally within the country for roles and just recognizing that you know to be strong you know we should have a strong community around us to support us and to keep that kind of vicarious strength going but at times we might not have it ourselves so it’s moving more towards that prevention piece and and how that social support community support is really imperative to achieving that and you can achieve that in a number of ways that you know it can be through your health and well-being program but we also know that CSR communities have a huge impact on mental health as well we’ve seen that a lot in the act of giving back so looking at the ways outside of the box in which we can create community and bring people together because I guess coming back to technology we are in many ways connected much more but on the human level you know are we connected you know if you’re in an office and you’re sat next to someone and they’re pinging you when they can come but those things we have to address as well and sometimes when we’re going to collect into organizations they’ll say yeah I don’t actually know anyone in that department but I see them work or

Speaker 1

or sometimes they’re on the same team, you know, it’s, yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and so if you are stressed, you know, our basic reaction is to reach out to the person next to us, not to pick up the phone and call the GP necessarily. So that’s why figuring out what’s happening within the teams is a huge preventative measure. My teamwork is not something wishy-washy, but it’s a real strength to look at and to develop.

And you know the culture of an organisation is always going to change as people leave and as people come. So you’ll have in that, you know, your maintainers of the culture and that’ll be supported by your values, your mission statement and all the other structural support that you have around the organisation.

But it’s also interesting to recognise that as you implement health and wellbeing programs or policy changes, it’s going to have an impact on the culture. Yeah. And just seeing that as a little bit flexible, seeing as that there might be some people will be really ready for it and will want to get involved and see this is amazing.

And other people who will make people take a little bit of time to get to that point. Yeah. And it’s not about being disheartened, it’s just about understanding that there’s a process of change and we all deal with change differently. Yeah. But also understanding that we might be trying to undo maybe 20 or 30 years of learning. Yeah. For some people. Yeah.

You know, and those behaviours and those coping mechanisms sort of kept them safe for a while.

Speaker 1

And yeah, so there can actually be, it’s a natural reaction to be resistant to that, we’re all kind of resistant to change in some shape or form. But I think, you know, a lot of the points that you’ve touched on there kind of really leads nicely into kind of the next topic for this morning is the workplace wellness roadmap.

So, you know, if you really want to embed enhance the culture of workplace wellness, or I suppose workplace wellness into the culture of the organization, you kind of need to know how you’re going to get there.

So what we have seen successful in terms of a roadmap or a process of how companies have approached is really, and you please do add in as well kind of any points that you think are really important, but kind of, I suppose the first step is really top management buying. And when you talk about top management buying, it’s really commitment, and commitment from top down.

And straight away, people often kind of jump to, well, like the budget perspective, the financial perspective of implementing a workplace wellness program, yes, that exists, but it’s really from the attitude of top management, you know, so that if they’re really kind of, I suppose, practicing what they preach it almost workplace wellness becomes kind of a mandatory within the organization.

But that’s natural. Yeah, it’s natural.

Speaker 2

It’s not something that you separate from work, it’s just something that we all do. We all have that expectation to look after ourselves, to role model positive behaviours and to be open to learning again.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah. And then kind of a second point would be, and you had touched on it as well, you know, about having, well, the community piece, but kind of having a team there that really can drive the program through.

And I suppose what we would always say is try to have kind of a diverse team, people who have different levels of experience within workplace wellness, but obviously people are committed and kind of passionate to wanting this kind of embedded within the culture of the organization.

A third point then, which is, I suppose, what we would see so important to the success of a workplace wellness program is the research phase. And often companies tend to skip this part and go straight into implementing interventions, kind of maybe more of a spray or pray approach. And they ask, well, people aren’t really getting involved and people really aren’t getting engaged. And why not?

But it’s like, well, are you actually delivering interventions or initiatives based on the needs of the organization? So in terms of research, what have you seen successful in companies from this year?

Speaker 2

So the research phase has been really important for us because it helps us to understand coming back to what is each department experiencing, what are the significant and specific stresses to each department, hearing their voices because that’s a huge part of it, people want to be heard.

And then once we’ve gone through the focus groups and the quantitative research and we’ve presented that back, not only to perhaps the board of directors or HR department, but also to the employees who contributed, they can see the meaning behind what is being implemented and why, and that also sets the expectation from that point to say, yeah, this is yours.

Commoners know what you need and where we can, we’ll implement those changes. Stress is apparent in every role and we’ve seen this year the World Health Organization have turned its time to find out it’s an occupational phenomenon and they’re looking at ways to prevent it.

Just naming it to begin with and saying we understand your stress is one of the, acknowledging it, validating your emotion can go a long way because it opens the door to discussion and it empowers individuals to say, yeah, can we do it because this is what I’m experiencing. We may not have all the answers right now, but we can look towards planning for it, so it costs less and less.

And I think that comes back to that vulnerability piece, you know, when people have been perhaps hesitant to raise their concerns and work around their emotional and mental health for fear or feeling as if they can’t do their role, that perspective needs to change and give people the opportunity to say, yeah, I’m struggling and what do we do?

Speaker 1

Yeah, no, absolutely.

And I suppose with the research phase is it’s the it’s a great opportunity or the kind of optimum time for an organization to really communicate what they’re trying to achieve to the organization and the employees, you know, because if you if you if you bring your employees on the journey and really involve them in the process of look, this is what we’re this is what we’re doing.

This is what we want to achieve. And these are the kind of the goals and objectives. And this is, you know, yeah, where we want the whole organization to go in terms of workplace wellness. And, you know, yeah, kind of that research phase is kind of a great opportunity to kind of start that process.

And then I suppose really, it’s once you have the research done, well, that’s, that’s kind of the biggest part of the puzzle. And you use that data to formulate the strategy to create the strategy of of your workplace wellness program. So kind of setting the goals and objectives, what you want to achieve, and then looking at the interventions that are going to be necessary for the organization.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and I’d say just the last point then, for the one of the concerns that we’ve heard is, you know, what is the return of investment? Yeah. And employees are really looking for that heart metric. And we have seen it in some research papers. But what the trend is kind of how the way repositioning in the well being industry is looking at what’s the value? What is the return of value?

Because how do you measure community, culture, strong routines, you’ll still have absenteeism and health metrics that you’ll gather.

But it’s really understanding what is the impact of delivering a mental health training, perhaps at the beginning of the year, and seeing how that trickles through the next 12 months, and then how that changes the culture, and how you get to less crisis intervention, and you have more proactive and health promotion intervention, and how that delays or protects individuals mental health, you know, how it delays the onset of mental health issues, because an individual is able to come and speak to their manager prior to getting to that crisis point.

Yeah. And that’s harder to measure. Yeah, it will come through perhaps in employee satisfaction measures, the connect piece, you know, give you an indication of what the worth is of implementing this program. And I’d say the really important thing is then to not discount the qualitative feedback that you get.

Speaker 1

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Um, God, we could really, we could dive deep into like a conversation could really continue. But, um, so I suppose we’re getting back to our workplace wellness roadmap. So we touched the first point top management buy-in. The second point is, um, creating a team to, to kind of drive it through the organization.

The third is conducting research and communicating what you’re trying to achieve to the organization using then that information to go on to the next point, which is developing your strategy. And then I suppose once you have that, it’s about implementation. And so implementing a workplace wellness program, um, what have you seen as kind of the challenges?

Cause I suppose it’s, it’s, it’s quite clear to think, okay, well you have your plan, uh, let’s go about implementing it. Um, and you know, maybe the activities that you’re going to have planned out for the next quarter and for the calendar, let’s say for the next 12 months. So what would you see maybe as some challenges that companies come up against with implementing?

Speaker 2

So from what we’ve seen I think there’s a kind of dual process which is happening in communication, communicating the program out with that zest and the meaning the purpose that people want but also understanding that you might have organizations where the HR department is already overstretched and someone needs to kind of step in and look after them at times as well so that’s why it’s important to have all the stakeholders involved in that program and not just rely on any one department to own it, to deliver it and to be responsible for it so when we have a shared responsibility that is the best approach and it helps filter the information down through the teams that reaches every month.

I think one of the second times I’ve seen is setting the expectations so we see a lot of great training going out, really good initiatives trying to get individuals and teams engaged and one of the stresses that they come up against is if I attend this it’s going to add to my workload.

So we need to find that balance there and say this is really good for your well-being you should attend it and the expectation is that you don’t need to stay later to be able to finish off your work you know we’re all attending this so the whole team can attend and no one feels guilty but they’re attending and someone else is attending. Yeah so that expectation piece is really important as well.

Speaker 1

And then as well I suppose for the kind of really the measuring how the implementation process has gone what we find it very useful is kind of measuring on an ongoing basis so like we would go into organizations on a quality basis look at what has worked over the last you know three months and what has not worked and then really kind of to revise and review you know what they have planned for the next kind of order in the in the program and kind of tweak it you know

Speaker 2

Pivot and Pulse surveys gives you that real-time feedback and it allows you to pivot on the approach should there be any organizational changes which are creating stress or if there are new additions to the program that they want to have included.

So an example would be at the moment we’ve got maybe 12-month programs lead out for some clients and then others are saying to us, well, what can we do for our new hires coming through?

And so then we develop our training out for the new hires and that could be something around resilience and stress, triggers and awareness training but once you’ve got that in place, then you look at what could be implemented elsewhere. So yeah, move out with the organization’s pace that is right for them. Yeah, brilliant.

Speaker 1

So we had then from kind of strategy and then to implementation and then to really measuring what’s happening and then I suppose the final point really in a workplace wellness, the roadmap, the process is really to review, revise and repeat.

Speaker 2

I enjoy it as well, you know, fun is a huge element of well-being, huge elements, so yeah.

Speaker 1

Yeah, brilliant. So we’ve covered a lot this morning and we have time for just, you know, one or two kind of frequently asked questions. So I’m going to kind of pick the main one that came up this year, which was around remote workers. So a lot of the companies that we were dealing with say, well, you know, we want to implement a workplace wellness program, but we have a lot of remote workers.

So how, how do you really include them in, in, in the, in the program? And so I suppose what, what we’re seeing companies kind of use as a solution is something like an app. And so like Deceval Health, I have application because, and yeah, it really, well, I suppose if you, with companies like that, and you’ve been in working kind of one-on-one, how have you seen like the app benefit remote workers?

Speaker 2

So the biggest thing that we’ve seen is, it stops that them and us feeling, so that everyone’s getting the same information at their hands and then we can build that community piece around it so you can create chat functions inside of it, you can challenge the director of the team, which brings the fun back into it.

So it’s that inclusion piece and there’s a huge motivational piece as well to know that I’m being valued, so that has increased the access, accessibility to what do I need to do to look after myself if I can’t attend the seminar that’s happening in head office.

In the world there’s maybe a course I can link in with or there are little what we call health coaches corner videos which are three to five minute videos and just give you a bit of information there and then. So that’s what I’ve seen that has been really fruitful and then when you are linking in on emails and it’s a talking point as well.

Speaker 1

So, if you have any questions on any of the topics that we’ve spoken about this morning, we would absolutely love to hear from you. So, please do contact us at hello at zebohealth.com. But for now, wishing you the best coming into the end of the year and looking forward to keeping the conversation going for 2020.